About Linda

My Jump Start Program helps you change your life.
Linda with a client

Linda Rendleman, M.S.
Coach — Podcast — Author — Visionary of Women Like Us Foundation

I love being a life coach that facilitates insight and personal change specifically for women at midlife and beyond. I know what it's like to embrace change and re-energize my life.  And I'd love to help you feel that excitement and happiness for yourself.

My Personal Story

Married at 19

Married in the church basement. I'm 19 and Stan was 20.
Married in the church basement. I'm 19 and Stan was 20.

I grew up in the Midwest, in an area many refer to as the Bible Belt. My sisters and I moved around a lot, not because we were military kids, but because it was my parents' way of moving up the ladder. We moved 15 times by the time I was 14. So new jobs for Dad meant new schools and new friends for us. We finally settled in Indiana when I was in 7th grade and stayed put from then on.

It was typical for women to get married at a young age back then. And by the time I graduated high school, many of my girlfriends would get that diploma and go straight into marriage and motherhood. I did it, too. I was 19 when I married, and my first child was born when I was 21. Yet that didn't deter me from my education. I knew it was vital to my future.

I knew education was key

For women, education is the key
Graduation from Indiana University... 2-year-old Janie on my lap!

Because my classes started early I would feed and dress Janie, then off to the girlfriend's house down the street to drop Janie off for the day while I drove 25 miles down the road to Indiana University. My life's mission wasn't yet sealed, but I knew that I was closer to a better life through getting more education.

Little did I know there would be challenges I couldn't even dream of ahead.I typed my papers on a little blue Smith Corona typewriter with my daughter on my lap. We were a team and spent long hours learning what our life would be like together. I think it was even then that I understood how important it was to be an example for her. To keep going…to stay focused.

I live my life as June Cleaver

It was very much a man's world in those days. As a result, we women were still seeking parity for pay, respect, and jobs, and the list goes on. It was important for me to be a pleaser…I was trying to find a way to be June Cleaver, create the imaginary picket fence, and find the apple pie on the window sill. I was a woman and I was to make everything lovely for everyone.

But after a second divorce and 3 beautiful children, I realized it was time to change my paradigm, take a hard look at what's next, and get serious about our futures. It became clear that I was alone in creating it if I wanted anything more for me and my kids. Any bright futures I wanted for us would come through me, not anyone else. Just me.

My Search for Me as a Woman

A baby in my belly at 21. Women had babies early back then.
Me celebrating my 21st birthday, full of my baby in my belly!

But I still didn't know how to get there. There was a constant tug in my soul to discover my life's direction. So I started doing what I knew, being in a relationship with a man as a wife. Even though I knew it wasn't the answer, deep inside. Instead of spending time on me, I got stuck into thinking that the answer was another Prince Charming. I still didn't understand that the answers were inside me.

Sadly, it took me another decade to find clarity. Even with my education finished and my graduate work in women's counseling, the answers didn't come. I was teaching school and on a salary of $11,000 a year.  With no financial help, it was up to me.  One thing that helped was I would feed my children dinner and wait until they were done eating.  Whatever was left on their plates was mine to eat. I knew this couldn't go on. Then one very sunny day, as I was swinging my son in the tire swing, it came to me. It was simple, really, and had been there all along.

Finally, I realized I needed to quit seeking the answers on my own. There must be other women who have had experiences similar to mine and were searching for answers, too. I needed to talk with women like me. Women like us. I needed to hear their stories. We needed to come together and deep dive into intimate, honest discussions about our worth as women. To learn from one another about where our lives were going, including our passions and our dreams. And we knew we needed to gain an understanding of our inner gut-felt attitudes. To find who we are and how we get to the next steps of our lives.

The Breakthrough

And then that's when I met Connie. My first ever mentor. I didn't realize Connie was my mentor or even what a mentor was at that time in my life.

Connie and I were room mothers at my daughter Cathy's first-grade class. We both wanted the same things; independence, freedom, equality, respect, secure futures. And we knew other women did, too.

Realizing we were both after the same thing, Connie and I published the first woman's magazine in Indianapolis, Indiana.

ur first issue of Indianapolis that empowered women in our city.
Our first issue of Indianapolis empowered women in our city.

Indianapolis Woman. We were both on our way, fulfilling our purpose, putting action to our passion.

direction and bringing other women along with us. Connie and I were taking action to teach women to see their power, stand up for their rights, and begin a lifelong journey of meeting, sharing, and leading women into authentic lives.

Our magazine turned into a television show and a radio show. We were getting traction. Our meetings and planning were at my dining room table with the family dog at our feet and my one-year-old son, AJ, on my lap.

Along with reaching out and bringing along other women, I began to understand pieces of me. I began to find myself at a deeper level. It was my first breakthrough. And without knowing it, I now see that it was at this time I pointed my life toward what would be my legacy. I was championing women and learning about myself along the way.

Years later came two more mentors; Cancer and Sally.

Cancer became my next mentor. It stopped me in my tracks. My friends took over for me, and my family was there. It was a year-long suspension of my current life and indeed an eventual survey of my soul. I had the worries so many people living with cancer feel. What about my children? Wait, I'm not ready to stop my life. I put my dreams of a non-profit for women's growth in a little imaginary box with, in my minds eye, beautiful jewels and shells and feathers.  I knew I would come back to it one day.  But I had to get well first. I got a lot of clarity during that time, but Sally (and the doctors, of course) taught me how to begin the world that had been waiting for me all along.

"Linda, don't you have a charity?" Sally asked me. Well, yes, I did. But I had stopped in the beginning stages when I was ill. Sally had made nonprofit work her life. So now she was here to teach me. And we did it together—the beginning of the Women Like Us Foundation. Fast forward, to today, my work brings women out of the slums of Africa into the Women Like Us Center for educational skills and economic stability in their lives. So the empowerment of women continues.

The Return to Me

My life so far has been far from perfect. But along the way, I've learned to re-frame the past difficult life stories that were still running around in my brain- and let them go; live my truth; set my boundaries; let go of old limiting beliefs; find my true worth as a woman and continue with confidence and energy.

It is my life's work to champion women.

I can't resist sharing this image of me and my 3 beautiful children. Life is good!
I can't resist sharing this image of me and my 3 beautiful children. Life is good!

I'm thrilled to be helping women one on one as well as in groups. It fits my life's work. And I feel amazingly blessed to have deep discussions with women I have come to know intimately and respect completely during this stage in my life.  I am using this next chapter of my life to facilitate their personal growth and help them create their most confident selves and, in turn, create their most astounding futures.


A "Woman on a Mission"

In this interview with Janet Gunn of FocusTV, I talk about my journey in finding my own voice and mission in life.

 


COACHING

I love coaching women like you and women like me-midlife and beyond.
I love coaching women like you and women like me- mid-life and beyond.

I am honored to be coaching women to share their personal life stories and use them as a vehicle for clarity and healing toward a fulfilling and confident life. I've used my own life experiences and personal legacy as a roadmap to my own future, a source of healing and clarity for myself, and know that as life moves forward, there are ample opportunities to actualize dreams, passions, and long-time personal goals. My education in Public Speaking and English, plus my graduate work in Women's Counseling and additional coaching certifications, allow me to celebrate women's past and help them get clear and re-frame what's next.

Book cover - Women Like Us

BOOKS

I always knew I had a story to tell and things to say.

After surviving cancer, it became more important than ever that I write my books.

I'm the author of the Women Like Us book series, Women Like Us: Real Stories and Strategies for Living Your Best Life; Women Like Us Illuminating the World; and Women Like Us: Together Changing the World.

Podcast microphone

PODCASTS

Today, I host a podcast, What's Next for Women Like Us, on iHeart, Apple, Google, and all places that provide podcasts.

I love interviewing women who have persevered, overcome, and been inspired by sharing their own stories of actualizing their lives.

Me and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at the Hear Her Song premiere in Washington, D.C.

AWARDS

Hear Her Song

In 2018 I received an honor that still brings tears to my eyes. Along with Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Supreme Justice Sonia Sotomayor, we were acknowledged for our passion and perseverance for supporting women's work in the world. Hear Her Song, an initiative by the Canales Project, honored each of us with a song written about our lives and work. My piece is One More Day—a tribute to my work and life of perseverance, is now heard on the album, Hear Her Song and available on all musical apps.

Or, listen to it below:

Torchbearer Award

Torchbearer Award

Torchbearer Award from the State of Indiana, the highest award the state gives a woman for her work with motivating and inspiring women. It was an honor to receive this award specifically for my work with women in my community and my first book, 2010.

WOMEN LIKE US FOUNDATION

As the founder of the Women Like Us Foundation, we have created an impact internationally in support of economic stability for women and girls.

Learn more about Women Like Us Foundation.

In the garden at the Women Like Us Center in Nakuru, Kenya

Empowering Women in Kenya
We established the Women Like Us Center in Nakuru, Kenya. At present, over 800 women and their families have gained skills through our center and are becoming economically stable.  Through sewing, computer education, farming, and psycho-social help, we've been able to impact so many lives.

Building Houses and Supporting Women
We've traveled to the Dominican Republic with 55 volunteers where in 3 days we built 3 houses for the homeless. And we traveled several times to Costa Rica in support of women's and children's educational futures.  It is there we helped set up a library.

Living in an Ashram/Volunteering at an Orphanage in the Himalayas
In Rishikesh, India, we walked 4 miles each day, over a swinging bridge that hovered over the Ganges River and into the mountains. There we volunteered at Ramana's Garden where hundreds of children, known as "untouchables"  lived and learned.  We helped them with reading, math and more.

Documentary film: Women Like Us. Three Journeys. One Mission. To Change the World.
I was so happy to be the Executive Producer of this film.  This was our chance to create awareness of the world view of women and encourage activism for change.  The film was selected for the Los Angeles International Women's Film Festival. View the trailer below.

I’ve been blessed to be able to get clear on what I want to do with my life and forgive myself for missteps along the way.  Yet, in reality, our lives are what we make of them.  And I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned along the way is that we are not alone.  Without the people I’ve met, learned from, and in turn supported from my own heart, I would have not had the opportunities and the experiences that have made my life full of richness.

And that’s where my new chapter, yes, even for me, begins.  I want to help you realize your next story and find your most confident next chapter, even legacy.

“When I get to the end of my life, I not only want to have lived the length of it, I want to have lived the width of it, as well.”  Diane Ackerman